Ford takes fast lane to Outback as Brown feels green

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Ford was granted permission yesterday by Racing NSW stewards to ride the Anthony Cummings-trained group 1-winning three-year-old and had to miss last night's main meal.

"He'll need to lose a kilogram or so," Ford's and Brown's manager, Bryan Haskins, said yesterday. "No dinner for him tonight."

Earlier this year Ford won two races and finished runner-up twice from four rides on Outback Prince. Brown then jumped on and won the group1 TJ Smith at Eagle Farm in June aboard the colt, which carries 50.5kg under today's weight-for-age conditions.

Among his rivals in the group2 race over 1200 metres is the brilliant sprinter Spark Of Life, which carries 57.5kg.

Haskins said Brown, who missed the Canterbury meeting on Wednesday because of a virus, returned to the doctor yesterday and was ordered to rest.

"The doctor gave him stronger antibiotics than he gave him the day before," he said.

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Haskins also confirmed another of his team, Hugh Bowman, would return from a successful working holiday in Europe on Wednesday and ride at the Warwick Farm meeting next Saturday.

BALLOTED OUT: Controversy surrounding the new balloting conditions for barrier trials has prompted Racing NSW to slash its three-month trial to just four weeks.

"After hearing the concerns of trainers, it has to be reviewed immediately instead of waiting three months," Racing NSW chief executive Peter V'Landys said yesterday. "We are seeking advice from all trainers and what their concerns are."

Limiting trial runners to 110 a session was introduced by the two Sydney race clubs in a bid to avoid wear and tear on their racetracks.

Some 60 horses were balloted out of yesterday's Warwick Farm trials, with several trainers slamming the new rules.

V'Landys also confirmed Racing Victoria had officially written to Racing NSW registering its interest in becoming involved with the Horsley Park project.

Racing NSW is keen on taking out a long-term lease on more than 680 hectares of land at Horsley Park, home to the Olympic equestrian centre.

It is costing the NSW Government millions of dollars to maintain and V'Landys is confident the racing industry could turn it into a self-funding, state-of-the-art racehorse training centre and education facility.

THEM'S THE BREAKS: You just about have to give Irishman Larry Hurley a cheer aboard outsider Biscany in today's Australia vs Ireland Steeplechase at Moonee Valley.

The 31-year-old father-of-four has been licensed to ride for eight years but has had about two years off because of injuries suffered in race falls.

"I broke my left leg, broke my right leg in four places, shattered my jaw, shattered my eye socket, broke my collarbone about six times, broke four knuckles about a month before I came out here," Hurley said, and it didn't stop there.

"I have lost four teeth and fractured my vertebrae. I have a pin in my leg now, a 12-inch bar there, and had my jaw rewired.

"Coming through Singapore into Adelaide airport, the machines were going crazy. It's unbelievable you know, really."

Hurley reckoned "it is just bad luck" and said big fields and tight tracks back home didn't help.

"It's horses coming after you when you have had a fall that do a lot of the damage," he said. "You get kicked and battered as the field goes past."